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Hollywood Killed the Video Game
A Slate.com article blames something other than the economy for video game industry layoffs and studio closings. Now that’s news. N. Evan Van Zelfden, who has written for Reuters and the Economist, may be onto something when he says that game publishers routinely spend more than they make. But I wonder if his pitch toward…
By AJ Glasser -
Mass Effect 2 Carries Over Your Original Mass Effect Character?
Mass Effect’s two-disc Platinum Hits edition includes a nifty video documentary called “The Future of Mass Effect,” which talks about downloadable content and what we can expect from the sequel. The new DLC pack in development will add combat-oriented areas that the devs are comparing to “Fight Club” and Arena. More interestingly, though, the documentary…
By AJ Glasser -
Where When I Need It
IndieGames’ freeware pick, Where, is exactly what I need to come down from the towering rage brought on by a traffic-y, wet Monday. The game consists of a series of mazes that you navigate using the directional keys to move and the mouse to look around. Unlike that old Microsoft Windows screensaver, these puzzles actually…
By AJ Glasser -
New Emulator to Play Any Game Ever Made — For Science!
The European Union put up $5.2 million (€4.02m, £3.6m) to fund a project called Keeping Emulation Environments Portable (KEEP) — which will develop a software program that can archive digital objects to preserve them for posterity. Computer historian David Anderson of Portsmouth University told New Science that that it would be a “cultural catastrophe” to…
By AJ Glasser -
This Valentine’s Day, Say It With Sims
It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without half a dozen games celebrating the number two Hallmark holiday of the year. The Sims 3 jumps on the bandwagon with two new screens of sweet, sweet love. After this week’s big ghost baby reveal, I’m really looking forward to The Sims 3. But with these cloyingly sweet images…
By AJ Glasser -
Gamers Gang Up On Tiger Woods
Pro gamers went up against athletes at the Gillette-EA SPORTS Champions of Gaming Global Finals in Florida last Tuesday. The result? Total domination by the gamers. Most of the star athletes were defeated in their own games. Tiger Woods went down before 52-year-old Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2009 world champ, Steven Ward. New Orleans Saints…
By AJ Glasser -
Ken Levine and Todd Howard on Teddy Ruxpin
Want to know what happened at that panel where their Stephen Totilo and Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal talked shop with Ken Levine and Todd Howard? They talked about Teddy Ruxpin. The actual topic of discussion was whether hardcore gamers should fear the Wii. The answer? Good luck getting a definitive one from this vid. You could…
By AJ Glasser -
Movie Games We Never Got
Thanks to the Warner Bros. Interactive Showcase, I’ve got movie-games on the brain. These days spin-offs, sequels, prequels and tie-ins crop up like pimples whenever a major movie is released. Even movies that came out a while ago are getting the game treatment, like Wanted and Ghostbusters. But what about the major movies that didn’t…
By AJ Glasser -
Does Watchmen: The End Is Nigh Fail The Rorschach Test?
Warner Bros. Interactive‘s Watchmen: The End is Nigh is caught in the awkward place between being a comic book game and a movie game. This is most visible in the difference between the story cut scenes and the in-game cut scenes. The former are done in the style of the comic with bright colors and…
By AJ Glasser -
New Wanted: Weapons of Fate Screens
Hot off the presses are eight new shots from Wanted: Weapons of Fate. Contrary to most movie-games, Weapons of Fate looks like it actually might be worth a damn. Among the many pluses: no driving segments. During my hands-on with the game yesterday, Associate Producer Ryan French announced that I had just come to the…
By AJ Glasser -
Wanted: Weapons of Fate Shows Promise
I thought I’d seen the last of Wanted after seeing falling asleep during the film — but, nope! Warner Bros. Interactive is determined to do better with the game than they did with the movie. Movie games tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. They’re most often cheap cash-ins Hollywood studios use to…
By AJ Glasser -
Legal Mag Recognizes Video Game Attorney As Outstanding Lawyer
Attorney Stephen Smith got a nod from legal magazine Los Angeles Daily Journal today in their “20 Under 40” feature for his impact on the interactive gaming industry. Smith’s case victories include a $13 million suit awarded to Ubisoft Entertainment for the contentious Bratz license dispute with MGA Entertainment, a $10 million copyright infringement claim…
By AJ Glasser -
Knocked Up: A Look At Pregnancy In Video Games
What’s the last time you got knocked up in-game? Was it The Sims 2? Fable II? Or all the way back in 1992 with Dragon Quest V, featuring the first known playable pregnancy? The choice to make pregnancy a part of gameplay adds a whole layer of moral issues to development, as well as some…
By AJ Glasser -
Rock Band and Guitar Hero Conquer Summer Camp
Amateur musician summer camp Power Chord Academy is using Rock Band and Guitar Hero in two new courses designed for “the new age of musicians,” those who happen to play Rock Band or Guitar Hero. GameRockers is a three-day program that has kids competing for prizes by forming bands, writing and recording songs and finally…
By AJ Glasser -
Velvet Assassin Gets the Aeon Flux Treatment
Peter Chung, creator of the avant garde sci-fi cartoon Aeon Flux, is signed up with SouthPeak Games to pen a 15-page Velvet Assassin digital graphic novel. The comic will be available as an exclusive bonus item for people who get the game at GameStop. The events in the comic will cover the life of Velvet…
By AJ Glasser -
Dawn of War II Co-op Campaign: An Identity Crisis?
Campaign mode in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II feels more like a role-playing game than an real-time strategy one. But with a little co-op action, it starts to feel more like a trading card game. The campaign in Dawn of War II differs from other RTS games by cutting out base-building gameplay, creating a…
By AJ Glasser -
Mom Blames Man, Media Blames Xbox For Teen’s Runaway Attempt
The mother of a Michigan teen who went missing for three days visited Good Morning America today, saying her daughter was “lured” to Puerto Rico by a 26-year-old man she met on Xbox Live. “He would play a game and just come into the room,” said Stacey Rieberger. “If you have a Live account, then…
By AJ Glasser -
Italian Cruise Line Equips Fleet With PlayStations
Costa Cruises signed an agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment Italia to put PlayStation 2s and 3s aboard all of their ships by the end of 2009. Starting in June, Costa Cruise lines in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean will have an area called “PlayStation World” for passengers to play PS3s. There will also be PlayStations…
By AJ Glasser -
Eric Nylund Writes Something Unrelated To Halo
Tor Books announced today that they’d be publishing an original novel from Halo and Gears of War writer/story consultant Eric Nylund. Mortal Coils is the first book in a planned five-book series. I’m to understand Nylund did in fact write books before he adapted the Halo series — but this is the author’s first original…
By AJ Glasser
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